Born in Millicent, South Australia and educated at the Millicent Public School, Lock worked on the staff of the South-Eastern Times. At the age of 18 he enlisted with the AIF and left for the front in May 1915 with the 27th Battalion. He accompanied the 2nd division to Gallipoli and France.
After returning from active service (WWI) he lived in Queensland and had works published in The Bulletin and other Australian papers.
As well as his novels, written as Charles Cooper, Lock also published books on travel, writing under his own name: Tropics and Topics (1949), People We Met (1950). Travels Across Australia (1952), Destination Barrier Reef (1955), Tropical Tapestry from Capricorn to Cape York (1956) and Random Journey (Around the World) (1959).
